Allentown Gets Only One Bid For Sludge Removal

Only one bidder came up with an offer yesterday for handling the City of Allentown's sludge in 1986.

But William Engle, city water resources manager, said, "Technically, there were no bids."

He said the only bidder, Bio-Grow Systems of Annapolis, Md., submitted a "conditioned" proposal "and we can't award a contract with caveats."

The key condition in Bio-Grow's bid was the presumption that it can get state Department of Environmental Resources permits to dispose of the sludge from the city's wastewater treatment plant on farms or other land in the Lehigh Valley area.

Said Engle, "We've been trying to get land application permits for a long, long time, but so far we've been unsuccessful. We're also trying to get land reclamation approval as well."

The city's sludge currently is trucked to the Grand Central landfill near Pen Argyl and costs the city $40 a ton.

Without a contract, Engle said, the city would be left to negotiate for a continuation of sludge disposal at Grand Central.

The bid, barring its conditions, carries favorable prices for the city. Under a one-year contract proposal, Bio-Grow would charge the city $28.62 a ton, $19.95 a ton under a three-year contract and $19.80 a ton under a five- year pact.

It bid only on the option of having its trucks haul and dispose of the sludge, offering no bid for the option of accepting sludge delivered and unloaded by the city or other haulers.

Under its conditions, Bio-Grow indicates the sludge "would have to be suitable for land application."

The firm also stipulated that the city would have to allow for an adjustment in the unit price after the first year of the contract; the city would have to provide a sludge storage area November through April; and the city would have to allow installation and operation of scales at the treatment plant so Bio-Grow's trucks could be weighed.

While two other firms picked up bid specifications, both advised the city they wereunable to furnish bids.

John A. O'Neal of Ad Soil of West Chester, one of those two firms, attended the bid opening. Asked why his company didn't bid, he said, "We cannot obtain a land application permit."